My Brother Zach

The Muffin Tree & The Little Boy

Seriously?!
I'd been floating for like, ever, and I still hadn't found solid ground?! Since when did Cali have a land problem?!
Sigh.
It was bright and sunny, and the sunlight pierced my eyes with its sharpness. The water was lazy now, just a mostly still, murky mess holding broken human stuff. Every so often, I thought I caught glimpses of silver fish frolicking around, and once I saw a big fat lizard clinging to a stray rubber tyre. I kinda screamed then, and kinda thrashed kinda crazily, and also kinda threw my oar at it, kinda trying to frantically paddle away.
Hey, don't judge! It was super ugly and gross! I mean, ew!

I flopped back onto the Minnie Mouse boat, exhausted. The muscles in my arms ached from grabbing onto things that wandered by, and rowing and paddling so much. I was tanning and although I didn't mind myself some golden skin (wink wink) I knew it would soon begin to burn.
And then, a miracle!
I had gotten up to row again when suddenly I spotted a large, crippled tree to my right. I quickly pushed my way towards it, then clambered onto one of it's very thick, gnarled branches and tugged the boat up with me.
I spent a few minutes leaning against the bark, gripping the boat. Then, when I felt something tickle my ankle which I had let suspend over the water, I looked down to see a long off white rope struggling to follow the gentle current.
"Hello," I said, pulling it up. It was obviously soaked and heavy with water. I used it to tie up the Minnie Mouse boat to a higher branch, so that it bobbed against the tree without floating away.
"Good girl," I said to myself, satisfied.
The tree was totally cool and totally weird at the same time. It was knotted with what actually looked like chocolate muffins all along its branches and in areas of the trunk. I let my hand pick at one, trying to chip a hole. It was almost relaxing.
And then, I heard it. A tiny gasp from above me. I froze. Then I slowly tilted my head upwards and stared into two bright blue eyes that stared back at me. Suddenly there was another gasp, then a half-scream, and the little boy toppled from the high up branches towards me.
Before he could fall into the water, I caught him swiftly and seated him on my lap.
The kid had platinum blonde hair with blue eyes almost too bright for its face. His nose was small and upturned, and he had ears like an elf. He looked about five, six maybe? Young. Lost. Innocent.
Alone.
"Hey," I said softly. "What's your name?" He trembled and didn't answer.
"Don't be scared, I can help you," I said, a little louder and slower. Maybe he didn't speak English? "What's your name? I'm Liberty. I'm sixteen." I smiled as he stared at me and put his thumb in his mouth. "Yeah, I'm not very tall, unfortunately. But you should see my brother, Zach. Zach's tall. Do you have a brother?"
The boy shook his head.
"A sister?"
He nodded.
"What's her name?"
In the tiniest voice of tiny voices, he whispered,"Betty."
I beamed at him. "That's a pretty name! And what's your name?"
"Jacob."
"And, Jacob, how old are you?"
"Five and a half." I smiled inwardly. It's funny how kids always like to add that 'half' or 'quarter'. As if it will make them a lot older.
Jacob shifted uncomfortably so I lifted him so that he could lean against the bark, then pushed myself opposite. Soon I was facing the little boy. I gave him another smile and a small wave.
"This is a lot of water around us, isn't it?" I asked, gesturing. He nodded.
"Do you know what it's called?"
He shook his head.
"It's called a tsunami. They're horrible, aren't they?"
Jacob nodded. "I don't like tsumanis."
"I don't either," I agreed. We both sat in silence for a bit.
"You look like my sister," Jacob said after a while.
"Do I?" I replied with a smile.
"Yes, she has dark hair and green eyes too, and she's big," Jacob said. "You're big." I wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment, mainly 'cause I didn't really know if he was saying I was tall or older (compared to him), or fat (which I hoped I wasn't). In the end I just smiled.
"You don't really look like my brother, but that's because we're twins. Zach's got dark hair and green eyes too."
"You speak funny," Jacob said after a while. If I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I'd be rich by now.
"That's because I'm from England. And I've got my parents' accent. Zach does too." Why on earth did I keep bringing Zach into everything?!
"What's England?"
"A country. England doesn't have a president, it's got a Queen. If you address her you've gotta say "Your Majesty" and stuff like that. I haven't ever spoken to her," I said quickly, in case he got the wrong idea. "But my parents probably have. They're secret agents."
"Cool!" I gave him a wan smile.
"Yeah, it's cool, I guess. But I hardly see them." We sat staring into space again for a while. I liked how the silence wasn't strange. Like it was ok not to say anything, and I wouldn't have someone waiting impatiently for an answer.
"Liberty?" I was a little surprised he remembered my name, but I nodded anyway.
"Yeah?"
"Are we gonna get rescued?"
I opened my mouth to speak, then shut it again and sat still, watching him quietly. Someone so young and so innocent shouldn't have to go through all this. This kid who could probably barely count all his fingers and toes would definitely not be able to count the number of deaths in his family. When we got helped - if we did get helped - he would go back to a destroyed home, with maybe no Betty. With maybe no one at all.
"Yeah," I said slowly. "We'll get rescued, Jacob. They'll find us." Then more to myself than him, "they'll find us."